Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: Dan ives of Webbush writing, this view does not change
Speaker 2: our bullish view of Tesla and the autonomous view, but
Speaker 2: clearly does put a fly on the ointment of the
Speaker 2: Trump regulatory framework going forward. Dan joins us. Now, Dan,
Speaker 2: great to see you, great to be here, very curious
Speaker 2: to hear what you have to say about this. The
Speaker 2: fact that you do not change your bullish outlook on Tesla,
Speaker 2: even though it seems like there is a massive key
Speaker 2: Man risk. Please explain how you dismiss that.
Speaker 3: Look, I mean, this is a its friend It's like
Speaker 3: a Frenemi is in junior high school. That's essentially going
Speaker 3: on between Trump and much.
Speaker 2: We're billionaires and leaders of massive empires.
Speaker 3: And look, the reality is that our view is that
Speaker 3: this is something where the friendship it doesn't end. In
Speaker 3: other words, I still believe that this will be resolved
Speaker 3: potentially by the end of the day, by the weekend.
Speaker 3: And it's not our view that this changes the regulatory landscape.
Speaker 3: Four musk. When it comes to autonomous and the broader vision, how.
Speaker 2: Do we even talk about the fundamental backdrop though? When
Speaker 2: you have a war of words, whipsawing this company by
Speaker 2: more than one hundred and fifty billion dollars of market capitalization.
Speaker 2: Does that introduce a risk that a lot of institutions
Speaker 2: just won't take.
Speaker 3: Look, but we always start and we've turn on the
Speaker 3: ship for a decade. It comes down like with Tesla,
Speaker 3: that's the reality. I mean, you're going to have the volatility.
Speaker 3: It's part of what we've seen with Musk. But in
Speaker 3: our view is that you have to see through the noise,
Speaker 3: understand the autonomous vision. It's our view ultimately Way Moos
Speaker 3: at the kids table when it comes to autonomous and
Speaker 3: the AI future. And look, this is it's Rod Serling.
Speaker 3: It's an episode out of the Twilight Zone yesterday. I mean,
Speaker 3: in my opinion, in all my years covering Tesla, it
Speaker 3: might win the prize top three, maybe top one for
Speaker 3: one of the strangers days that I've ever seen.
Speaker 4: So last year Elon Musk said take away the subsidies.
Speaker 4: It only helped Tesla. Why does he or based on
Speaker 4: reporting out of the speak of Johnson, out of President Trump,
Speaker 4: why has there been this reversal from him regarding the
Speaker 4: EV subsidies.
Speaker 3: He's no longer in the White House. I mean, and
Speaker 3: you've talked about it. It comes down to like he's
Speaker 3: now trying to distance himself for a few reasons. One
Speaker 3: that would hurt Tesla not as much as the others
Speaker 3: in terms of the Detroit Big Three. But then you
Speaker 3: also look at what's happening here. I believe there's some
Speaker 3: poker going on as well, that he's trying to distance
Speaker 3: himself from Trump because of China, because he also needs
Speaker 3: to play nice in the sandbox in Beijing with everything
Speaker 3: that we see as given the China market raw material
Speaker 3: is how important that is from a demand perspective, He's
Speaker 3: trying to be sure, I think balances and for a musk,
Speaker 3: even though some of it could come out sort of
Speaker 3: spur of the moment, I do believe potential there's a
Speaker 3: longer game here.
Speaker 4: Is he rebranding for a midterm election where most people
Speaker 4: think the Republicans are going to get absolute salacking.
Speaker 3: Well, look in the reality is is that That's why
Speaker 3: in d C. I mean, you know, if you're a
Speaker 3: hater or whatever, a musk he is going to be
Speaker 3: a huge player. And that's why for all parties. That's
Speaker 3: why White House, you know, it seems trying to put
Speaker 3: together this phone call, because no one's a winner, Trump
Speaker 3: or Musk in this Frontemi's battle. I think it's two
Speaker 3: kids in the sandbox. I do think the play date
Speaker 3: will be back on at one point. It's just going
Speaker 3: through definitely sim little tension here.
Speaker 2: Wait, you're actually suggesting something that's pretty important, that there
Speaker 2: is an aspect of deliberateness to this by Elon Musk
Speaker 2: to revive the brand around Tesla, to try to paint
Speaker 2: it with a less Maga type of brush after a
Speaker 2: lot of blowback and a lot of fall off in sales,
Speaker 2: particularly outside of the United States. Do you really think
Speaker 2: that actually this is a vocal way of his distancing
Speaker 2: himself and that he can get back in good with
Speaker 2: President Trump. But this is an effort to revive a
Speaker 2: brand that suffered a black eye, just like Elon Musk.
Speaker 3: Look, I think there's some of that potentially at play.
Speaker 3: But you don't burn the house down just so you
Speaker 3: can meet the firefighters. I mean, the point is you
Speaker 3: need to navigate the situation very carefully. You need Trump
Speaker 3: as a friend, not a foe. And that's why Tessa
Speaker 3: down so much, is because if you're on the regulatory
Speaker 3: it's going to be a green light when it comes
Speaker 3: to autonomous and especially Tesla, and I view is a
Speaker 3: huge advantage there. You can say way mo little as well.
Speaker 3: You don't need Trump now as an enemy, you need
Speaker 3: them as a friend. Hopefully by the end of the
Speaker 3: day the candle White dinners back on. I just do
Speaker 3: not believe that these friends become enemies. It's a again,
Speaker 3: it's a Frenemi's junior high school situation between two as
Speaker 3: we know, a very stubborn individual.
Speaker 2: Let's say in episode six they still haven't gotten back together,
Speaker 2: do you change your view and become more bearish on Tesla.
Speaker 3: Look, if this continues to continue to play out longer
Speaker 3: and longer term, obviously that would be a huge negative.
Speaker 3: But my view, just say junior high school, they will
Speaker 3: get back together as friends, but it's going to take
Speaker 3: some intermediaries. That's why the White House, there's a lot
Speaker 3: in DC on the Republican Party and everywhere.
Speaker 4: Well, the distance is already there, and there's something that
Speaker 4: happened yesterday that potentially the White House are really upset
Speaker 4: with and maybe are going to create a lot of
Speaker 4: tension for a long term, even if they start playing
Speaker 4: a little bit nicer. Is this an opportunity potentially for
Speaker 4: China to use BYD. We can see BYD cars made
Speaker 4: in the United States.
Speaker 3: Look, I think this is just a broader game of
Speaker 3: poker going on, and Musk and Trump are key players
Speaker 3: at that poker bakra on table, whatever you want to
Speaker 3: think about it. China definitely is watching this carefully because
Speaker 3: also remember Musk is i'd say, along with Cook, I
Speaker 3: mean to know the China market better. They also play
Speaker 3: nice in Beijing as well, so there is some bounds
Speaker 3: going on here. But look, must we want him to
Speaker 3: distance himself from Trump still be a friend. It's been
Speaker 3: a very strange few weeks, a few months, and obviously
Speaker 3: twenty four hours. But I do believe by the end
Speaker 3: of the day and going into the weekend, I don't
Speaker 3: expect this to get work. I do believe this will
Speaker 3: start to be cool heads prevail and that's why Tesla
Speaker 3: stock will be up there. I think Tessa is way
Speaker 3: over sold. Like, unless you think draconian, this goes into
Speaker 3: like a dark period to me, I think we view
Speaker 3: this as an opportunity.
Speaker 1: So Dan, let's get back to the American consumer for
Speaker 1: a second. So what I hear you saying is you're
Speaker 1: assuming that Elon is not going to form a third
Speaker 1: political party, which I think we can all say we're
Speaker 1: relieved about. Has what's happened caused a measure of irreversible damage?
Speaker 1: And if not, how long is this going to take
Speaker 1: for the American consumer to disentangle hammer herself from the
Speaker 1: politics of.
Speaker 3: All and first, I'm disappointed you. I feel we are
Speaker 3: matched today. But I'm not going to storial splendor.
Speaker 2: It's it's but it's file.
Speaker 3: Look, I don't I don't view that. I think it's
Speaker 3: something there is brand damage and there was there is
Speaker 3: things that must needs to turn around. In terms of us,
Speaker 3: we said five seven potentially ten percent damage the American consumer.
Speaker 2: Look, I think there's.
Speaker 3: Confusion when it comes to us because obviously alienated you
Speaker 3: know many in Democratic Party. Now you actually alienating the republic.
Speaker 3: So now it's like, if you want to alienate everyone,
Speaker 3: you've actually done a great job. Okay, So now it's
Speaker 3: point like, okay, how do we sort of build this back?
Speaker 3: Does the board get involved? Because again it goes back
Speaker 3: to the board needs. I think in a situation like this,
Speaker 3: they do need to play a hand in some way
Speaker 3: to make sure that this doesn't go off the rails.
Speaker 2: If it's a junior high school situation, then there needs
Speaker 2: to be an adult in the room.
Speaker 4: You need a room.
Speaker 3: You need a doll in the room with the prom.
Speaker 2: Yeah, come on, get home, it's your curfew. Dan Ives
Speaker 2: of Woodbush, thank you so much with your sartorial splendor.
Speaker 2: Julian I love that phrase.